Waterfall Methodology
A clearly defined sequence of execution with project phases that do not advance until a phase receives final approval; linear sequential phases for planning, building, and delivering new features.
Click here to learn about each step!
Requirement Gathering
Define the problem. Identify scope of problem and develop plan/strategy to solve the problem.
Analysis
Investigate problem to define requirements necessary for solving it. Define “what”
Design
Design a solution based upon the requirements. Define “how”
Coding
Implement (program) the design.
Testing
Test the program to ensure that requirements have been satisfied
Operations/Maintenance
Fix or improve applications based upon use or changes in the environment
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Learning Objectives
- Develop Comprehensive Project Plans: Gain skills to create detailed project plans with clearly defined milestones, deliverables, and timelines.
- Identify and Manage Risks and Dependencies: Develop strategies to foresee potential risks and manage inter-dependencies between phases in a Waterfall project.
- Monitor and Track Project Progress: Learn techniques to monitor project progress and manage resource allocation using Waterfall tools.
Characteristics
- The Waterfall approach is well-suited for projects with clear, unchanging requirements and where a thorough upfront understanding of the project is available
- Linear and Sequential
- Each phase must be completed before moving to the next
- Clear Documentation
- Each phase is thoroughly documented, ensuring clear guidelines and specifications.
- Fixed Scope
- Requirements are defined upfront with limited flexibility for changes.
- Late Testing
- Testing occurs after implementation, delaying the discovery of issues
Benefits
- Provides a way for large or changing teams to work together toward a common goal defined in the requirements phase
- Ensures a disciplined and structured organization
- Provides a simple method to understand, follow, and arrange tasks
- Smooth transitions
- Extremely stable
Drawbacks
- Design flaws, when discovered, often mean starting over from scratch
- No consideration for error correction
- Lacks flexibility when it comes to unforeseen roadblocks and changes
Example
- NASA’s Space Shuttle Software Development Project
- Requirements were extensively gathered and documented upfront to ensure clarity.
- Design specifications were developed in detail before implementation, allowing for careful planning and avoidance of late-stage changes
- Implementation involved writing the software code based on the strict requirements and design documents
- Testing was carried out after the code was developed, ensuring that the software met all predefined specifications and had minimal bugs due to the exhaustive planning
- Deployment and maintenance followed, with changes to the system requiring formal processes
How Can We utilize this approach?
- This tool has opportunity to be very useful for our Toolkit because of the clear structure, documentation, risk management, user friendly aspects it entails. If used properly, the waterfall management tool would be very easy to follow, and provide much insight into GDD.
- However, we would have to properly craft the correct stages in order for it to properly work the way we want it to, which therefore is a limitation of the tool.